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  • Ephraim Fire House Museum - Ephraim WI
    The Federal Emergency Relief Administration (FERA) funded the Ephraim Fire House in Ephraim WI in 1935. Unusual fire house built into a cliff. Architect was William Bernhard, a student of Frank Lloyd Wright. Now a museum and a memorial to fall firemen and women. According to the Wisconsin Historical Society, "The Ephraim Engine House was constructed of local limestone in 1935 following a design by prominent local architect William Bernhard. Construction of the building relied on funds provided by FERA. As such, although Bernhard drew the plans for the structure in 1934, construction did not begin until April of 1935, when FERA funds...
  • Estabrook Park - Milwaukee WI
    Estabrook park was one of many parks in Milwaukee County to receive extensive improvements from the CCC or the WPA in the 1930s. Work by the CCC at Estabrook Park included the removal of "about 100,000 cubic yards of rock from the bed of the Milwaukee River at Estabrook Park. The rock was crushed and used for roads and dam construction." The CCC also "onstructed a flood control dam at Estabrook Park, including a rock spillway and flood control gates, separated by a small island."
  • Ethel Spears Mural - Schauer Arts & Activities Center - Hartford WI
    This 1940 oil on canvas "Autumn Wisconsin Landscape" by Ethel Spears was originally painted for the Hartford post office. It is now located in the Schauer Arts & Activities Center.
  • Farnam Park - La Crosse WI
    "Farnam Park is located at 1305 7th Street South. The City purchased lots from John A. Salzer Seed Company in 1938 to build tennis courts with WPA labor. This is a neighborhood park of .34 acres where people can recreate using the lighted basketball courts and two lighted tennis courts."
  • Farnsworth Middle School - Sheboygan WI
    "This building is approximately 256 by 388 feet. It contains administrative offices, library, auditorium seating 1,000, double gymnasium, and classrooms for art, music, biology, general science, mechanical drawing, printing, woodworking, and metal working, a study hall seating 200, 25 classrooms, and a cafeteria. The building has a volume of 1,900,000 cubic feet. The entire construction is fireproof. The project was completed in June 1938 at a construction cost of $583,312 and a project cost of $654,468, including about $33,000 for land."
  • Fire Station 3 - Green Bay WI
    Green Bay's Fire Station No. 3 was constructed in 1937 with federal Public Works Administration (P.W.A.) funds. The P.W.A. supplied a $17,550 grant for the project, whose total cost was $49,352. PWA Docket No. WI 1367
  • Fort McCoy Highway 16 Gate - Fort McCoy WI
    From 1935-1941, the WPA worked on projects directly supporting the United States Military. In Wisconsin, the WPA along with the U.S. War Department worked on a $22,000 building project that saw them build 6 wood buildings and two stone gates in 1940 to 1941. The two stone gates are the only remaining structures that still stand today. This gate was called the Highway 16 gate as it was built just off of Highway 16 on County Highway A. This gate served as the main gate for Camp McCoy on a road which was created when the base opened in 1909....
  • Fort McCoy, Hwy 16 Main Gate - Sparta WI
    This gate is an amazing engineering feet. It lays at approximately 250 feet long and is in very nice shape. This gate, once completed, was used as the post's main gate prior to the cantonment area moving to North of Highway 21 in 1942. Work on this gate started in 1940 and most likely was completed in 1941. The road, which is County Highway A has existed since the base opened in 1909. There is a historical sign outlining the WPA's contributions to then Camp McCoy.
  • Fort McCoy, Hwy 21 Stone Gates - Sparta WI
    Per a historical account of Fort McCoy, written as a result of the base's 100th anniversary, it was mentioned that the WPA worked on post during the construction of Highway 21 near the Fort. This construction resulted in many buildings and two stone gates. Per the 2009 report, the two stone gates were the only structures that remained. This stone gate is located on Ginger Road just off of Highway 21 going into South Post. This gate is still standing but it has degraded with time. Ginger Road leads to the current base housing unit for permanent Soldiers and families.
  • Franklin Lake Campground - Eagle River WI
    "In 1936, CCC and WPA workers gathered on a scruffy piece of logged off timberland to build the Franklin Lake Campground... CCC enrollees from Camp Ninemile in Vilas County worked with the National Park Service to create landscape, trails, roads, and campsites, while WPA workers from the Warvet camp in Vilas County constructed buildings. The campground includes 42 campsites, a picnic area, swimming beach, and ten buildings. The plan adopted Rustic style aesthetics blending manmade elements, such as trails and buildings, into the natural lakeside setting. The buildings' Rustic logs, stones, open porches, wide overhangs, and exposed rafters reflect the beauty...
  • Goerke Park Grandstand - Stevens Point WI
    This stone and concrete grandstand was constructed by local Stevens Point workers in 1938 with money from the Works Progress Administration (WPA) to provide a venue for viewing football games. It is located in Goerke Park, a 26-acre sports park located near P.J. Jacobs High School, also built by WPA workers. It is still in use today.
  • Gordon Park Improvements - Milwaukee WI
    "Repairing and painting of buildings, including band shells, bathhouses, pavilions, bridges, residences, service buildings and playground buildings in the following parks...Gordon Park."
  • Grandad Bluff Shelter - La Crosse WI
    "Along the Upper Mississippi, WPA employees built ... the stone shelter atop Grandad Bluff in La Crosse, Wisconsin ..."
  • Grant Park Bathhouse - Milwaukee WI
    "The temporary Grant Park bathhouse at the foot of Lake Michigan was replaced by the WPA with a permanent building of Colonial design, complete with open-air dressing yards that sat on a raised stone terrace overlooking the beach and lake. The furniture on the terrace was also designed and built by skilled craftsman who worked under federal programs. "
  • Granville Town Hall (former) - Milwaukee WI
    The Granville Town Board voted in 1940 to build a new Town Hall in Granville Center that would house the town offices, an auditorium, and the fire department. Work Projects Administration (WPA) labor built the project. Construction began Oct. 23, 1941 and the building was dedicated Oct. 10, 1942. Its original address was W. Good Hope Rd. and N. Wauwatosa Ave. (renamed N. 76th St. after Milwaukee and Granville consolidated). The Granville Town Hall was assigned the address of 7717 W. Good Hope Rd., circa 1944. On April 3rd, 1956, the voters of the City of Milwaukee and Town of Granville (22 sq....
  • Greenfield Park Swimming Pool - West Allis WI
    "A large outdoor swimming pool was constructed at Greenfield Park by the WPA to serve the western part of the community. The water supply was obtained from a deep well, pumped into small lagoons, or warming basins, where it was tempered by the atmosphere and then chemically treated before entering the pool."
  • Harvey Hall Mural, University of Wisconsin-Stout - Menomonie WI
    With WPA support, Cal Peters painted several murals for the University of Wisconsin-Stout campus, circa 1935-1936. This mural "Learning, Industry, Skill and Honor" is a 5' x 40' oil on canvas. The central figure appears to be "Wisdom" dispensing the gifts of learning, industry, skill and honor. The mural is hanging in its original installation location: Harvey Hall Grand Staircase, first floor, south entrance, the University of Wisconsin-Stout.
  • Hatten Park - New London WI
    Hatten Park in New London, Wisconsin was developed during the Great Depression and constructed by the Works Progress Administration (WPA). WPA-built structures in the park include Hatten Memorial Stadium, a swimming pool, and stone pillars and walls. It all began with a discussion in 1935 centered on the community’s desire for a swimming pool. This quickly expanded into the need for a city park, shelter facilities, athletic fields, playgrounds, walking trails, and a stadium. Rolled into this conversation was a need to get people back to work during the height of the Great Depression. It was the creation of the Works...
  • Hawthorn Glen Nature Center and Amphitheater - Milwaukee WI
    Hawthorn Glen is a park and nature and education center administered by the Milwaukee Public Schools recreation division. The twenty-three acre site includes a long curving bluff, ravines, and a deciduous forest, as well as a soccer field, several nature trails with interpretive signs, and a small “nature museum” with limited hours. Potawatomi and the Menomonee Indians lived on the site before European settlement, and part of the park was a gravel pit at the turn of the twentieth century. The WPA constructed the building that now houses the nature museum, as well as a small stone amphitheater and a picnic...
  • Herbster Community Center - Herbster WI
    WisconsinHistory.org: "The Herbster Community Center was funded by the Work Progress Administration, a federal agency established in 1935 by President Roosevelt to provide employment for needy workers during the Great Depression. The WPA project at Herbster was developed to utilize local material and to employ local labor while achieving the final goal of erecting a building that could be used as a gymnasium and town hall. Approval for the community center was granted on May 13, 1939 and work on the project was started in October 1939. The center was completed in the spring of 1940 at the cost of $30,000....
  • Hiawatha Trains 100 and 101 (Demolished) - Milwaukee WI
    In 1934, the New Deal’s Public Works Administration (PWA) loaned the Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul & Pacific Railroad Company—popularly known as the “Milwaukee Road”—$8.6 million (about $194 million in 2022 dollars) for infrastructure improvements and new equipment.  The latter included two streamliner passenger trains, the coaches to be built by the Milwaukee Road’s own shops and the locomotives to be built by the American Locomotive Company (ALCO) in Schenectady, New York for $90,000 each (about $2 million each in 2022 dollars). Each train set consisted of an engine and seven cars.  The locomotives were numbered 1 and 2 (see photos) and...
  • High School - Loyal WI
    A high school building in Loyal, Wisconsin was constructed with Public Works Administration (P.W.A.) funds. The exact location and status of the building is presently unknown to Living New Deal. wiclarkcountyhistory.org: "Formal dedication of the new high school building at Loyal will be made in exercises in the school auditorium at 8 p.m. Friday. The dedicatory address will be given by John Callahan, State superintendent of public instruction and a full program in which many persons prominent in the affairs of the school, past and present will be introduced. Construction on the new building was started December 5, 1937, and completed, for all...
  • Hodag Park Bathhouse - Rhinelander WI
    "The Hodag Park Bath House is a one-story, random rubble, hip-roofed building. It is Rustic, a style that was popular during the late 1930s. The Bath House was built circa 1938 (1939 photo, L. L. Cook Collection, SHSW; Rhinelander City Directories; "Hodag is New Name For Park," New North, May 11, 1939, p. 1). The park was initially designated "Mary Didier Memorial Park," but the name was soon changed. The building was funded by the W. P. A. (Kris Gilbertson, "W. P. A. Leaves Lasting Legacy," Rhinelander Daily News, April 23, 1985)."
  • Honey Creek & Menominee Parkways - Wauwatosa WI
    "Improved 225 acres of the parkway from North Avenue to Church Street, planted 10,000 shrubs and trees, built 7 bridges and constructed 5 miles of roads. Erected 2 miles of retaining wall along the Menomonee River to halt erosion. Constructed an overhead for the Rapid Transit over the parkway."
  • Honey Creek Bridge (Portland Bridge) - Wauwatosa WI
    Concrete and stone arch bridge over Honey Creek on Honey Creek Parkway North of Hwy 18. Built in 1934 as part of the Civilian Conservation Corps. A number of pictures are included on the referenced web page.
  • Hoyt Park - Madison WI
    The WPA and CWA conducted extensive work throughout the park, building stone shelters and fireplaces. From contributor Erin Brown: "Hoyt Park is located on the west side of Madison, and is slightly off the beaten path of busy roads and traffic. The City of Madison first bought the land in 1890 as stone quarries. In 1933, the land was officially deemed a state park. It was named after Frank W. Hoyt, the leader of the Madison Park and Pleasure Drive Association, which was a volunteer group that fought to open and maintain recreational areas and parks in and around Madison. Under FDR’s...
  • Hoyt Park Swimming Pool - Wauwatosa WI
    "Later in 1936, the regional planning department prepared plans for the new pool and bathhouse that was then constructed by the WPA. The new facility opened in 1939. The pool had a capacity of one million gallons."
  • Hoyt Park: Shelter and Park Facilities - Madison WI
    Hoyt Park already appears in The Living New Deal site data. However, most New Deal structures at this cherished park are not represented. Therefore, this submission adds five photos of New Deal structures at this beautiful park. Additional photos could be added in the future.
  • Hubbard Park Lodge (Scout Craft Cabin) - Shorewood WI
    The Works Progress Administration (WPA) built the Hubbard Park Lodge in Shorewood WI. the structure was built for use by Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts. WPA crews also graded the land, built pathways and a spring-fed pool and fountain.  The records indicate that two buildings in Hubbard Park in Shorewood, WI, were built by the WPA in 1936: Hubbard Park Lodge (originally called Scout Craft Cabin) and Shorewood River Club (originally called Hubbard Park Community Lodge). The two venues, at present, are under the same management. According to one history, "Hubbard Park saw a lull in activity until the 1930s when Shorewood secured...
  • Iverson Park - Stevens Point WI
    Jules Iverson Memorial Park in Stevens Point, Wisconsin, named for a local philanthropist, is at 121 acres the city's largest park and its most heavily used. It is located in a basin created by the shallow, meandering Plover River, which provides the park with its swimming hole, and its lovely water landscape. In 1935 the City Council designated the City Manager to apply for Works Progress Administration (WPA) funds to improve the park after about half the land had been donated by Mr. Iverson. Between 1935 and 1940, 395 local men were employed by the WPA to drain swampy areas,...
  • Jackson Elementary School - Green Bay WI
    Green Bay's Jackson Elementary School was constructed in 1937-8 with federal Public Works Administration (P.W.A.) funds. The P.W.A. supplied an $81,000 grant for the project, whose total cost was $208,266. PWA Docket No. WI 1326
  • Jackson Park Service Building - Milwaukee WI
    "The most visible legacy of WPA projects in Milwaukee County was the parks system, which had more construction and landscaping during the WPA period than any other time in its history. WPA construction included six swimming pools, pavilions at Red Arrow and Brown Deer Parks, service buildings at Jacobus, Jackson and Whitnall Parks, the Botanical Garden administration building and golf club house at Whitnall Park, a bathhouse at Doctor's Park, a recreation center at Smith Park, new roads in nearly every park, and parkways throughout the county."
  • Jacobus Park Service Building - Milwaukee WI
    "The most visible legacy of WPA projects in Milwaukee County was the parks system, which had more construction and landscaping during the WPA period than any other time in its history. WPA construction included six swimming pools, pavilions at Red Arrow and Brown Deer Parks, service buildings at Jacobus, Jackson and Whitnall Parks, the Botanical Garden administration building and golf club house at Whitnall Park, a bathhouse at Doctor's Park, a recreation center at Smith Park, new roads in nearly every park, and parkways throughout the county."
  • James Fenimore Cooper School - Greenfield WI
    Public Works Administration-funded contractors built the Cooper School in Greenfield, WI.
  • James Watrous Murals - Madison WI
    "The murals in the Paul Bunyan Room in the Wisconsin Student Union in Madison, WI were done by James Watrous funded by the PWAP."
  • Jones Island Wastewater Treatment Plant Extension - Milwaukee WI
    The PWA extended the existing Jones Island Wastewater Treatment Plant in 1934.
  • Kern Park Improvements - Milwaukee WI
    "Repairing and painting of buildings, including band shells, bathhouses, pavilions, bridges, residences, service buildings and playground buildings in the following parks...Kern Park."
  • Kilbourn House Restoration - Milwaukee WI
    "An unusual WPA project involved the relocation of the Kilbourntown house to Estabrook Park. The Greek Revival home was built by pioneer carpenter and master builder Benjamin Church for his family in the early settlement of Kilbourntown near North Fourth and Court Streets. The building was rescued from demolition and moved in four pieces and restored by the WPA in 1938."
  • Kletzsch Park - Glendale WI
    "Kletzsch Park was also greatly improved with the use of relief labor. A Civilian Conservation Corps camp was established in Kletzsch Park in May of 1935 and discontinued in November of 1935. The CCC projects completed included a new dam built across the Milwaukee River with CCC labor. The new structure, built of reinforced concrete in a serpentine design to lengthen the crest, provided increased discharge capacity without widening the river. Models prepared by the landscape design section of the planning department served as guides in erecting the stone facing and the fish ladder built into the face of the dam....
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